Freelander2 TD4

[franjae]

Has anyone driven one? How does it compare to the Tiguan TDI? Looks good and is a larger vehicle. Who owns LR now?

[Transporter]

Tiguan is better for reliability.

LR is own by Tata Motors.

[franjae]

Does that mean Tata to your resale value??

[halojump]

I have had two Landrovers and can say from experience they are without a doubt a complete piece if crap.
My Discovey spent 3 months of it's 13 month life (with me) in for repair. It left me stranded in the middle of nowhere twice.
I have friends with the current and previous model freelanders and the only reason they still have them is that they will lose too much money selling or trading.
From experience, my advice, stay well clear of them.

[jimbomort]

Jcubed is in SA, but he had a Tig and then went for a Freelander, look him up here if you want to chat withsomeone who has one

[Transporter]

I was looking to buy Freelander in 1999, they didn't have diesel with auto (until they were bought by BMW), I asked myself, why? For sure the SUV is big enough for the manufacturer to be able to fit A/T, than I quickly realize that they don't have the technology, money to develop A/T that could be mated to the diesel engine. The next thing one have to ask is, what else they don't develop?

I wouldn't support car manufacturer that is not innovative and spend money on who knows what with my purchase.

I think that for money one would pay for Freelander you could get almost any SUV of that size. I rather buy Santafe than Freelander. Freelanders were always badly build and had a lots of problems with them (petrol versions were the worst), worst than KIA IMO. Hence the reason that LR changed ownership so many times in the past. The new ones will be maybe better, but who knows? Why risk it? Wait for 3-4 years and see if their quality changed. If you don't want to wait and don't want to risk losing money, than you have to look for reliability record from the past and that is no good.

[franjae]

Fair enough too...

Just thought that through BMW, their product would be up to scratch. Though my friend has a Range Rover and he said every one of the cars drive differently, which is a concern!

[jcubed]

Hi franjae,

First things first. The original Freelander was a Rover, the Freelander 2 is a Ford. BMW had nothing to do with the LR2.

It is a scaled down version of the Range Rover without low-range and air suspension. This means the pedigree is off-roader, not road-car. So if it's off-road you want to go, the choice is obvious.

The 2.2l diesel engine comes from Peugeot, and the 3.2l Petrol engine is a Ford unit built in Wales, but better known as a Volvo engine, where it was used first (and still is) in the XC90. It is one of the new generation generic Ford engines that they intend to use throughout their range, probably also in Jaguar at some stage.

Yes, Tata owns LR and Jaguar, but only in the sense that it is the holding company, which would benefit from Ford technology in their own vehicles. The design of the car will not be tampered with, if they have any business sense. And somehow I think they do. They could afford to buy the brands, could'nt they?

The Freelander 2 itself is built on the Volvo C60 platform - I've read somewhere that the floorpan is identical.

It uses the same Aisin transmission as the Tiguan, with IDENTICAL ratios except for the final drive, which is different due to the LR2 having proper wheels. And it is sorted, without the jerkiness or other strange behaviour as reported under the Tiguan Quirks topic on this forum. You can also get the shifter through the gate without coming to a dead stop with your foot on the brake pedal, so you can rock yourself out of a sticky situation with the auto box.

It uses the Haldex GEN 3 differential, which also sounds familiar.

Once you start looking at the construction of the car, almost all structural and electronic parts have a FoMoCo logo on it, so it is shared with other Fords, Jaguars or Volvos.

However, the car is not perfect. The ground clearance is honestly specified, but due to the softer suspension still a bit vulnerable in the front. Do not get me wrong. After the Flintmobile ride of the Tiguan, I will NEVER complain about a soft suspension again. It is unbelievably supple, and once you get used to the amount of "give", way better. But you will get a few scrapes initially. But that's easy to fix.

The heat shield around the fuel tank is the most flimsy I've seen. I think I may have cooked potatoes in the fire wrapped in foil thicker than that. So the first rock - OK, it was a rather large one - that rolls underneath the car rips it off. I'll make my own from stucco, when I get round to it. I already have manufactured and fitted my own bash plate and is presently modelling a skid for the chin.

It has immensely strong, easily accessible recovery points both front AND REAR.

It has a very tight turning circle.

It does not have a rear 3/4 blind spot.

It's BIG. You have to watch your side mirrors, and sometimes even fold it in when manoevring down narrow passages.

The ABS does not leave you without stopping power in slippery conditions with the ESP - DSC - turned on.

Land Rover locally has a terrible name for service if something does go wrong, as it undoubtedly will. This is what kills it in the used market, as it is then usually out of warranty. This should improve, as the maintenance plan has now been extended from 3 to 5 years.

The mere fact that the service intervals on both diesel and petrol engines is 24000km, should give you an idea of the confidence - or not - the manufacturer has in its product.

The diesel engine is way quieter than the Tiguan version, but the petrol has been tuned for performance - 0-100km/h in under 9 seconds for a 1.9 ton vehicle - and tends to be a bit "roarty" when pushed. But inaudible at the traffic lights. Maybe I could plug the one tailpipe ....

Claimed fuel consumption will never be achievable under local conditions. For the 3.2 i6, long-distance consumption is claimed as 8.6l/100km. I did get 9.5 the other day on a 150km trip though, mostly highway driving. But generally around 12 - 13 l/100km commuting to work and back. And I'm happy, as the physics of normally aspirated engines propelling a large vehicle prescribes this. It is an unrealistic expectation and mere science fiction that it could be better.

But seeing as this a is a VW forum, I'll stop here. I did make a 3-page comparison between the Tiguan and LR2 prior to changing - both objectively and subjectively - which I may have posted on this forum - can't remember. If you're interested, I can send it to you if you PM me your home email address. It may just provide some pointers as to what to look out for.

So far, so good. LR jokes abound, and among Toyota owners - arch-rivals - it is referred to locally as an oil-rig. To date, I've been unsuccesful in striking a well.

Thanks for the reference, jimbomort.

Regards

jcubed

[Transporter]

Nice write up jcubed,

I have to admit that it was on my mind before taking delivery of our Tig, and Freelander was $49.990 before the end of financial year sale. But it was in my head only for about 1 ms of the time, quickly extinguished by a bad experience with Jeep Cherokee 2.8CRD auto that we had for exactly 3years and it was replaced on the day the warranty run out with Touareg. (I couldn't leave my daughter to drive unreliable car)

Before buying the Jeep, I did my homework (obviously not well) and check all major components who make them and so on. How wrong can you go with Italian engine (120kW/400Nm) that was in production for more than 10years and well proved from commercial and marine applications, in Jeep the engine was mated to MB 5speed auto that was also manufactured for some time, the diffs were Jeep - also good and proved (no problems with them). However we had nothing but the troubles with that Jeep. The 2 intercooler hoses that broke off under warranty would cost well over $1000.00 just for the hoses. Jeep service was snot existent and they were a bad company to deal with. Now, I wouldn't want a new Jeep or any Chrysler product not even for free, not worth while to pay for the registration and insurance on it. It is much safer to wait and follow how is a newly released model doing in the markets around the world, and most importantly in your country.

I hope that Freelander will work for you, it's been real pleasure to reed your write ups, especially the off road ones

[franjae]

Thanks jcubed, for taking the time to share and educate me a little on the FLander. The gear shift selector looks identical to our 3 series BMW, that's why I assumed there were some connection and if so better reliability.

I quite like the squared off look and it is a larger vehicle than the Tig. As we all know the worst feature of the Tig is the small boot. But as the vehicle would be mainly on-road, the Tig might be the better one.

Still can't quite make up my mind, perhaps I may have to resort to buying a wagon instead, but the thought of sitting higher up in an AWD vehicle is appealing.

Thanks again jcubed and the others who have shared their opinions.